WurfWhile

14th Congressional Democratic Candidate Jotham Stein filed his fundraising numbers yesterday showing $61,599 raised in the 3rd quarter. Stein out raised fellow Democrat John Laesch about $16,500 for the quarter, and has raised a total of $105,639 for the cycle ($6,564 of it his own donation). Additionally, Jotham has loaned his campaign $33,730 for the cycle.

Jotham Stein has to be heartened that his fundraising for the quarter is about 25% more than fellow progressive John Laesch, especially since Laesch is in his second run for the seat. But Jotham’s numbers are dwarfed by fellow Democrat Bill Foster, both in funds raised from others and in those donated by the candidate. Foster’s fundraising from others more than triples Jotham’s - and then Bill donated an additional $200,000 to almost double his numbers. Stein, in contrast, donated a bit over $5,000 to his campaign this quarter. I don’t have any idea what Jotham Stein is willing/capable of doing to self-finance his campaign - but if he’s going to make a serious run in the primary Jotham is probably going to have to dig deep into his pockets or dramatically improve his fundraising - and likely both. What Stein has succeeding in doing this quarter is making a stronger case for being the progressive alternative to John Laesch. Jotham should feel good about the accomplishment - but he’s got a lot more to do if he wants to win it.